A Wargamer in Cyprus: The Shrine of St James

SCENARIO 1.2: THE DISPUTED SHRINE

The church of St James the Prevaricator is located near Rabuse just over the city of Trientes border with Translavonia. It has been held by the Slavs for the last twenty years. Odo and his Normans intend to change that!

SET UP

• In the centre of the table, place a church. Around the building a defensive ditch.

SPECIAL RULES

The defender has been tipped off about the imminent attack and has gathered forces to repel it. The rest of the defender’s units can enter the table from any of its edges.

ENDING THE SCENARIO

The scenario ends when the attacker has cleared the church or lost more than half of their points. The maqam is cleared when two turns in a row end with none of the defender’s units within the courtyard.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

The player with the most units within 6” of the chirch at the end of the game receives 5 Glory. In the event of a tie, the defender receives 3 Glory and the attacker 2 Glory. Add or subtract boasts.

The Normans arrive. Our local Slav Voivode has garrisoned the church with archers.

The Normans attack aggressively

But use cheesy tactics on the flank to avoid the Slav arrows

And attacking over rge ditch they still break into the church.

A bit of a massacre.

And the Dlav horse fairs no better.

Using Andalusian Cavalry, I need to get the proper guys painted up

And the Voivode is chased away!

Meanwhile back at the church the Slavs break.

And even the Slav foot draw back. A huge win for Odo and his Normans.

SCENARIO 3

The River crossing

Game Three

The route towards Saczow, the local Voivode's city, has been blocked, but the advancing Normans turn aside to strike at the Translavonian Prince who has mustered his forces, including Swabians mercenaries, to drive them back.

The game is played corner to corner. The Slavs defend the Ford and the woodland

• the objective is the ford

SPECIAL RULES

• The hillsides and woods count as Cover.

ENDING THE SCENARIO

• The scenario ends when one of the two leaders is out of action as a result of his unit being wiped out, because of lucky blows, or because of a duel.

Or it end when the Normans hold the ford

VICTORY CONDITIONS

• Incapacitating a Leader is worth 5 Glory.

• If no Leader is incapacitated at the end of the game, both players earn Glory for Boasts alone.

The ford over the Volos River, with a second upstream ford randomly generated.

The Slav Prince leads his men on from the flank. Presumably he has used the hidden ford to cross. The Swabians defend the Island, and the Slav Cavalry back them up.

And when I say Swabians I mean Saxon Huscarles.

The Normans advance from the opposite corner.

Two groups of Norman Horse, a group of light foot and some archers.

The Normans use archers to weaken the Swanians. Very effective too.

The Normans lead with the light foot, hiding them away in the wood. This prompts the Slavs to advance.

The Prince moves to draw off the archers, who have broken one Swabian unit already. Those Slav Cavalry tried to get to the other ford but they only managed to pass one activation early on and stayed in that position for the rest of the game.